Royals signed RHP Jeremy Guthrie to a three-year, $25 million contract.

Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reported the contract information. Guthrie will make $5 million next season, $11 million in 2014 and $9 million in 2015. The Royals were reportedly unwilling to offer more than two years, but they ultimately caved to keep him in the fold. Guthrie earned the big payday after posting an impressive 3.16 ERA and 56/19 K/BB ratio over 91 innings after coming over from the Rockies in July. He'll be at the front of the Royals' rotation next season along with recent acquisition Ervin Santana.

So we've reached a point where the Royals are showing more urgency to address their rotation than the Twins. Aye.

While I agree that it'd be nice to see the Twins make a move (TODAY, please), it's not terribly surprising to see a guy go off the board early by sticking with his current team and signing a new contract.

He's not very good. Adding guys like Guthrie does nothing for the Twins... the Royals can have him.

It may be too much to expect the Twins to field a better 4th starter than Guthrie, whose FIPs and xFIPS generally sit in the mid to high 4's. But it's not too much to expect them to do it for a whole lot less than 3 years/$25 million. So yes, good riddance, and a relief that the Twins CAN'T sign him now. I'd rather watch Deduno hit the mascot twice a game than see 25 million go up in smoke with a mediocrity like Guthrie.

That is two of the top 20 starting pitchers gone....no need to panic yet.

In terms of the offseason timeline, no, it's not too late to acquire other pitchers.

But I'll go ahead and panic for a different reason: The Royals just set Jeremy Guthrie's price point at $8.33 million per year. Anybody else here hoping we would pick up somebody better than Jeremy Guthrie? Given that his deal was significantly more than Willingham's, which is far and away the richest FA contract the Twins have ever paid out, I'm don't think this is exactly a good development for us. The only plus side to it is that we aren't stuck with Jeremy Guthrie, but neither are 28 other MLB teams.

Back in September, there were people hoping to get Anibal Sanchez for exactly the type of numbers Guthrie just got. How delusional does that look now?

That is two of the top 20 starting pitchers gone....no need to panic yet.

In terms of the offseason timeline, no, it's not too late to acquire other pitchers.

But I'll go ahead and panic for a different reason: The Royals just set Jeremy Guthrie's price point at $8.33 million per year. Anybody else here hoping we would pick up somebody better than Jeremy Guthrie? Given that his deal was significantly more than Willingham's, which is far and away the richest FA contract the Twins have ever paid out, I'm don't think this is exactly a good development for us. The only plus side to it is that we aren't stuck with Jeremy Guthrie, but neither are 28 other MLB teams.

Back in September, there were people hoping to get Anibal Sanchez for exactly the type of numbers Guthrie just got. How delusional does that look now?

That's what I'm worried about, too. This is just an outrageous contract for a mediocre pitcher. And please, nobody act like this would of been a good signing for the Twins.

[...But I'll go ahead and panic for a different reason: The Royals just set Jeremy Guthrie's price point at $8.33 million per year. Anybody else here hoping we would pick up somebody better than Jeremy Guthrie? Given that his deal was significantly more than Willingham's, which is far and away the richest FA contract the Twins have ever paid out, I'm don't think this is exactly a good development for us.

Haven't you heard? Money isn't an issue! The Twins braintrust said so, meaning that it must be true. So what if Sanchez might be looking for 5 years/$70 million now that the Royals have overpaid for Guthrie? Ryan just pays more to get him, without affecting what he can spend on other players. Problem solved!